Say Hello to Tony

Mmmmm...Tony. He is - or should I say was - our turkey this year. We always name our turkeys, because we're kind of silly like that. Tony was twenty-five pounds of turkey goodness. Daniel, as the turkey guru ( he swears it's the massage he gives that brings the magic), prepares our man of the year on Thanksgiving Eve. "Tony" then proceeds to cook all.night.long. and all.the.next.day.

We ate at 5:30 this evening - Tony had aromified our house for eighteen hours. And he was awesome. AWESOME. Incredibly awesome. We have always made our turkey this way and it has never, ever let us down. The tenderness, flavor, and moistness is unbeatable. Your eyes roll back in your head. Anyways... Tony was great, but Eve was devastated to have to eat him. Just sticking the thermometer into Tony caused her intense trauma.

"Does it hurt him?!"

"Don't hurt him!"

Eating him brought an onslaught of

"Poor Tony..."

"Poor, poor Tony"

And you should have seen her face. Crushed is a good descriptor.

Our actual Thanksgiving day was relaxingly calm and fun. Well, until the last two hours or so. That's when things always get a wee bit frantic, but I wouldn't feel like it was Thanksgiving without that happening. It was a smaller crowd than I am use to, but a day and table filled with wonderful family and friends.

The food amounts were definitely not smaller and now my fridge is crammed. I just have to cook tons of food on Thanksgiving. It wouldn't feel right if I didn't. Although, I did let my family down in the pie department this year. I only made a banana cream. My mom, Gram, and Tarrah provided the rest. Usually I make quite a few different choices, but I'm 34 weeks pregnant. And tired. That's a good excuse right? I hope so because I use it a lot.

One of my favorite parts of the day, other than the eating - of course, was sitting on the couch while the guys cleaned up the table, put away the food, and did the dishes. This is the most awesome tradition ever started.
Another favorite part, I'd be remiss if I didn't include it, was where Daniel had to stand up in a feeble attempt to make room for the rest of his pie.... it didn't work, but it sure was funny. And I loved it.

What a good day, what a good family. What a good life I live.

So, how was your day?